IllustrationCome to the Altmühl Valley for limestone views, hands-on fossil hunting and small discoveries beside the river.
Come to the Altmühl Valley for limestone views, hands-on fossil hunting and small discoveries beside the river. Choose your starting town before setting off: Solnhofen for a hill walk above the Twelve Apostles, Eichstätt for fossils and museums, or Beilngries for an easy outing along the Sulz. These are separate days out across a nature park of roughly 3,000 square kilometres.
Around Solnhofen, pale rock towers rise over the valley and juniper dots the open slopes. The short grass can look surprisingly sparse, yet it supports plants and insects adapted to dry, nutrient-poor ground. Sheep grazing helps keep this landscape open. Any sheep you meet are domestic livestock doing a useful job; watch from the path and give the flock room.
Eichstätt adds another timescale. About 150 million years ago, this region was a tropical landscape of lagoons, reefs and islands. At the Jura-Museum, an original Archaeopteryx fossil makes that distant world tangible. Outside, the challenge is smaller and closer: spot a butterfly visiting flowers or compare plants growing beside rock with those beside water. A memorable visit needs only one main outing and time to stop. Enhance your adventure: download the Snappit app to identify the local species you encounter.
The nature park was founded in Pappenheim on 25 July 1969. Its present landscape holds much older stories: Jurassic seas supplied the rocks and fossils, while generations of grazing helped turn wooded slopes into the open grassland and juniper heath seen today. Caring for those slopes remains part of the park’s work.
For an energetic family walk, start at Solnhofen station and follow route 3, Teufel trifft Apostel. This 5.9 km circuit climbs and descends both sides of the Altmühl, with 151 m of ascent and several short, steep sections. The Teufelskanzel viewpoint looks across to the Twelve Apostles; from Eßlingen the route follows the Altmühltal-Panoramaweg above the rocks before returning through Solnhofen. Keep children close near drops and take photographs from the path.
For a longer fossil-themed day, begin the 9 km Fossilienpfad at Eichstätt Stadt station. Its six interpretation stops link the Willibaldsburg’s Jura-Museum, the Blumenberg visitor quarry, Museum Bergér and the local stone-working landscape. The climbs to the castle and Blumenberg need stamina. Choose one paid stop for a relaxed day; trying to explore every museum and split stones as well can overwhelm the walk.
You can also make Blumenberg quarry the whole outing. Go to the visitor entrance on Kinderdorfstraße, pay admission and follow the staff’s introduction. Work only in the released collecting area, wear sturdy shoes and safety glasses, and show every find to staff before leaving. They decide what may be taken home. Children need adult supervision, and quarry faces and barriers are out of bounds. This permission belongs to the visitor quarry: it does not extend to roadside rocks, working quarries or archaeological remains.
For a gentler day, choose Beilngries’s Fisch- und Naturlehrpfad through Sulzpark. Its approximately 3 km of level paths introduce the river’s fish, plants, birds and bats. Ask the tourist office at Hauptstraße 14 for the trail information, then take turns choosing a panel and looking for the habitat it describes. It is a good option when your group wants riverside discovery without the hill climbs.
Blumenberg fossil collecting is seasonal; the park listing gives late March to early November and warns against winter collecting when frost makes the stone and ground unsuitable. Confirm the day’s opening with the operator. The Jura-Museum normally closes on Mondays, with exceptions for some public holidays, and has shorter winter hours. Freizeitbus 6010’s 2026 season ended on 3 October; check the next season’s timetable before relying on it.
Sulzpark’s 3 km trail is level and listed as independently wheelchair-accessible and unobstructed for pushchairs. Solnhofen’s steep circuit and the full Fossilienpfad are more demanding walking choices. The uphill approach from Eichstätt Stadt to the Jura-Museum is not barrier-free. At the castle, an alternative museum entrance and the main exhibition circuit offer barrier-free access, but the upper gallery and separate temporary-exhibition rooms have barriers. Discuss your arrival and requirements with the museum.
The Twelve Apostles seen from Teufel trifft Apostel
Jurassic fossils and Archaeopteryx at the Jura-Museum
Hands-on family fossil hunting at Blumenberg
A level riverside nature trail through Beilngries’s Sulzpark
Follow the official circuit from Solnhofen station via Teufelskanzel and Eßlingen, returning past Solahalle and through the village.
Choose this for walkers comfortable on steep ground; use Sulzpark for the confirmed wheelchair and pushchair outing.
Start at Eichstätt Stadt station; choose one museum or the visitor quarry as the principal stop on the fossil-themed circuit.
The full circuit is a hill walk. Museum access and the visitor-quarry ground need separate consideration.
Follow the interpretation trail through Sulzpark; the tourist office at Hauptstraße 14 supplies starting information.
Listed as independently wheelchair-accessible and continuously unobstructed for pushchairs.
Arrive at Solnhofen station, walk Teufel trifft Apostel and leave time for lunch before your return train. Keep the viewpoint pauses short enough to finish comfortably in daylight.
Drive directly to Blumenberg instead of adding the 9 km walk. Give the children time for the staff introduction and careful searching, then finish by showing all finds for inspection.
At the Jura-Museum, choose one fossil and look carefully at its outline. Later, compare the shapes of living plants or animals without assuming they are the same species.
At Sulzpark, let each child choose a fish, bird, bat or plant panel. Ask which parts of the riverbank would provide food or shelter, and look from the trail.
Use the fossil displays and aquaria for an indoor visit, checking museum hours and the weather on the approach. Do not turn a wet-day museum plan into an obligatory steep circuit.
Look for small stonecrop plants already visible beside the public path. This is part of the dry-slope food web; take a close photograph without stepping into the scree.
Use a plant guide to distinguish wall germander from other low flowering plants. Photograph only specimens within view of the path and leave stems and flowers untouched.
A juniper shrub makes a useful fixed subject when butterflies will not sit still. Compare its shape with the open grass around it, without picking needles or berries.
Watch flowers beside the path for the contrasting dark-and-light wings. The park’s adult season runs from mid-June to late August; wait for a butterfly to settle rather than following it through grass.
A swallowtail’s flight can carry it quickly out of view. Pick a comfortable place on the path overlooking flowers and enjoy the flight even if a photograph never presents itself.
Look for a moth hovering in front of a flower instead of landing on it. A short video can capture the movement well; keep your feet on the path.
Pause quietly where a public path already gives a view of the water. A kingfisher encounter may be brief. Never search banks for nest holes or use calls to attract a bird.
Look from public paths for evidence of gnawed wood rather than expecting a daytime animal. Leave cut branches where they lie, and keep away from lodges and bank burrows.
These eight plants and animals live wild in the nature park. They occupy different habitats and will not all be found on every walk. Grazing sheep, aquarium animals and fossil specimens are separate parts of the visit.
Stay on public paths around the rock towers and protect the dry grassland. Leave plants, wildlife and archaeological material undisturbed. Collect fossils only in an expressly released visitor area under its operator’s rules.
The grassy slopes around the Twelve Apostles developed through centuries of grazing and woodland use. Sheep and landscape care now help prevent the open habitat from becoming scrub.
The Jura-Museum’s fossils come from a world of tropical islands, reefs and lagoons about 150 million years old. The stone on the hills preserves a landscape very different from the river below.
In October–March the Jura-Museum normally opens Tuesday–Sunday, 10:00–16:00, with last entry at 15:15. Check holiday exceptions and current notices. Do not assume the quarry remains available through winter.
At Blumenberg there are toilets, a kiosk with tool hire, covered seats and a playground. In Beilngries, the trail listing names the Bühler-Halle car park on Ingolstädter Straße.
For Beilngries, check the booked VGI-Flexi service covering Kinding, Beilngries, Kipfenberg and Denkendorf. Reserve using the app, online service or 0800 8442844. Seasonal Freizeitbus 6010 serves the valley only on its published operating days.
Willibaldsburg has two designated accessible parking spaces and two accessible toilets. The Jura-Museum’s alternative entrance is in the arcade to the left of its main entrance. Its upper gallery needs stairs, and the separate temporary-exhibition rooms have 9–15 cm thresholds.
Each card links to a full Explore page with photos, traits, and fun facts.
Start with the big picture, then zoom in to explore individual wildlife observations around this place.
Start at the right station
Solnhofen’s circuit begins at its station. For the Fossilienpfad, use Eichstätt Stadt; check the RB 14 connection from Eichstätt Bahnhof and any engineering-work notices for your day.
Plan the Beilngries connection
Check VGI-Flexi between the Kinding area and Beilngries. It is booked transport, so arrange both directions rather than expecting a bus to appear.
Pack for exposed slopes
Bring water, sun protection and shoes with grip. A short hill walk can take longer than its distance suggests.
Respect the collecting boundary
Follow the Blumenberg operator’s rules. Do not hammer natural rock formations or search for archaeological objects.
Keep the small things intact
Photograph flowers where they grow. Do not catch butterflies, chase wildlife or approach burrows and nests.
Dogs need a separate plan
Leashed dogs are welcome at Blumenberg, but dogs are not allowed inside the Jura-Museum. Keep them clear of grazing flocks.
Check before committing
Read the current route and attraction pages before leaving, and follow local diversions and barriers. Carry the official route description for hill walks.
Recent snaps will appear here as new observations are added.
Maryland, US
You might spot White-Tailed Deer and Eastern Gray Squirrel.
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District of Columbia, US
You might spot Eastern Gray Squirrel, Duck, and House Sparrow.
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Illinois, US
You might spot American Robin, Canada Goose, and House Sparrow.
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Virginia, US
You might spot Spotted Lanternfly and Northern Cardinal.
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Take the discovery with you
Identify the wildlife you spot, learn as you go, and keep a collection of the adventure.
